The effect of Cr impurity and Zn vacancy on electronic and magnetic properties of ZnSe crystal

The spin-polarized electronic energy spectra of the ZnCrSe crystal were obtained based on calculations for a supercell containing 64 atoms. First, calculation is performed with an impurity of Cr atom, replacing the Zn atom. In the second variant, the Cr impurity and the vacancy at the Zn atom site are considered simultaneously. The results obtained in the first variant are as follows. It was found that the presence of the Cr atom leads to significant changes in the electronic energy bands, showing a large difference for different spin moments. The density curves of electronic states with opposite spins show an asymmetry, the consequence of which is the existence of a nonzero magnetic moment of the supercell. It was found that in the ZnCrSe crystal electronic 3d states with spin up are present at the Fermi level, i.e. the material is a metal. For spin-down states, the material is a semiconductor in which the Fermi level is inside the band gap. The value of the direct interband gap for electronic states with spin up is equal to 1.56 eV, and the magnetic moment of the supercell is 4.00 . The results obtained by the second variant of the calculation show a significant effect of the vacancy on the zinc site on the electronic structure of the ZnCrSe crystal. The Fermi level now intersects the dispersion curves of the upper part of the valence band for both spin orientations. The magnetic moment of the supercell is 2.74 .

Charging nanoparticles: increased binding of Gd@C82(OH)22 derivatives to human MMP-9

Unlike most matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) inhibitors, which target the conserved catalytic zinc site, Gd@C82(OH)22 indirectly inhibits MMP-9 activity by binding at the ligand specificity S1′ loop.

Allosteric histidine switch for regulation of intracellular zinc(II) fluctuation

Metalloregulators allosterically control transcriptional activity through metal binding-induced reorganization of ligand residues and/or hydrogen bonding networks, while the coordination atoms on the same ligand residues remain seldom changed. Here we show that the MarR-type zinc transcriptional regulator ZitR switches one of its histidine nitrogen atoms for zinc coordination during the allosteric control of DNA binding. The Zn(II)-coordination nitrogen on histidine 42 within ZitR’s high-affinity zinc site (site 1) switches from Nε2 to Nδ1 upon Zn(II) binding to its low-affinity zinc site (site 2), which facilitates ZitR’s conversion from the nonoptimal to the optimal DNA-binding conformation. This histidine switch-mediated cooperation between site 1 and site 2 enables ZitR to adjust its DNA-binding affinity in response to a broad range of zinc fluctuation, which may allow the fine tuning of transcriptional regulation.

Dynamic HypA zinc site is essential for acid viability and proper urease maturation in Helicobacter pylori

HypA structural Zn site mutants affect acid survival ofHelicobacter pylori.

Progress in ZnO Acceptor Doping: What Is the Best Strategy?

This paper reviews the recent progress in acceptor doping of ZnO that has been achieved with a focus toward the optimum strategy. There are three main approaches for generating p-type ZnO: substitutional group IA elements on a zinc site, codoping of donors and acceptors, and substitution of group VA elements on an oxygen site. The relevant issues are whether there is sufficient incorporation of the appropriate dopant impurity species, does it reside on the appropriate lattice site, and lastly whether the acceptor ionization energy is sufficiently small to enable significant p-type conduction at room temperature. The potential of nitrogen doping and formation of the appropriate acceptor complexes is highlighted although theoretical calculations predict that nitrogen on an oxygen site is a deep acceptor. We show that an understanding of the growth and annealing steps to achieve the relevant acceptor defect complexes is crucial to meet requirements.